18 February 2019 – Oxford: Oxford Genetics and Sphere Fluidics announce a multi-partner collaboration to expedite the development of automated microfluidic systems for rapid and high-throughput gene editing in mammalian cell lines.

Under the agreement, Sphere Fluidics will act as the lead partner, looking to utilise its extensive expertise in microfluidic systems to produce new products designed to meet the requirements of multiplexed gene editing workflows.

Oxford Genetics and the University of Edinburgh will provide input into industrial and application specific requirements, both in relation to standard engineering approaches but also for more difficult host systems, including stems cells and primary cell lines, and in discovery contexts. Twist Bioscience will contribute DNA synthesis capabilities and required reagents for the project.

“Gene editing, particularly CRISPR technologies, have revolutionised the way scientists are able to engineer mammalian cells for a wide-variety of applications. While these technologies are highly efficient, there is a requirement to further optimise the way laboratories deliver the CRISPR tools to cells and interrogate the resultant products. By increasing throughput and reducing timelines in this area, this creates new avenues of research and commercial applications, from our ability to address complex genetics in basic biology to utilising big data to facilitate personalised medicine,” said Tom Payne, CSO at Oxford Genetics. This forms part of Oxford Genetics on-going commitment to automating laboratory processes and facilitating intelligent experimental design and data handling.

“We are very pleased to join forces with a company of the calibre of Oxford Genetics. They bring excellent expertise in cell biology, gene editing and workflow automation. We plan to develop a desktop system that will miniaturise and automate the genome editing of single cells. Such a product is highly innovative and will be disruptive in that sector. This system will enable scientists to easily perform automated genome editing and create new cell lines and valuable biomedical products,” said Frank F. Craig, CEO at Sphere Fluidics.

“This multi-partner collaboration brings together the incredible expertise of different organisations to fuel important and cutting-edge responsible research in the field of gene editing,” commented Emily M. Leproust, Ph.D., CEO of Twist Bioscience. “CRISPR holds tremendous promise to truly improve health and eliminate disease, and we are thrilled to support the scaling of these combined technologies to work toward improved health worldwide.”

Investment received from Greenwood Way Capital, Oxford Technology and Innovations EIS Fund and 24Haymarket

Funding will be used to accelerate growth in operations and sales across the UK and USA

Cambridge, UK, 29 January 2019: Sphere Fluidics, a company commercializing single cell analysis systems underpinned by its patented picodroplet technology, announced today that is has closed a $2 million (circa £1.5 million) investment round. The Company secured funding from several investors including Greenwood Way Capital, Oxford Technology and Innovations EIS Fund and 24Haymarket. The funds raised will be used to accelerate growth in operations and support sales of its Cyto-Mine® Single Cell Analysis System.
Sphere Fluidics’ Cyto-Mine is an automated platform which integrates single cell screening, sorting, dispensing, imaging and clone verification. It can process up to 40 million cells per day, and assesses and isolates those that produce a specific biologic to help streamline workflows and improve throughput in antibody discovery and cell line development. The Company will use the investment to expand operations and sales capabilities across the UK and USA and open a new US West Coast Sales Office. Frank F Craig PhD MBA, CEO, Sphere Fluidics, said: “We are pleased to see such a high level of interest in Sphere Fluidics and receive funding from several leading investors. We are making further investment in automating and streamlining our manufacturing processes across our product range to extend our offering and to deliver our high-quality standards and service to more researchers working in biotherapeutic discovery and cell line development across the UK and USA. We will be raising additional funds to expand these capabilities further.”
Cyto-Mine will be on display in Washington, DC at SLAS 2019 from 2nd to 6th February 2019 (Booth #1655 and #1429).
For more information about Sphere Fluidics and Cyto-Mine, please visit:https://spherefluidics.com/products/integrated-systems/cyto-mine/

We have been voted as one of the most groundbreaking technologies of 2018 in the Medicine Maker Innovation Awards!
The Medicine Maker Innovation Awards highlight the most groundbreaking drug development and manufacturing technologies released onto the market over the course of the year and we are honoured to have Cyto-Mine® nominated as one of the top 16 technologies showcased.
The Medicine Maker is now looking for votes for which innovation out of the top 16 is truly the most innovative!
We need support from our users and vendors to become the favourite in their online vote. Voting will close on February 28, 2019.
Vote for Cyto-Mine® here: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/RN2OC/

PAA’s S-LAB micro-plate handling capability will be integrated with Sphere Fluidics’ Cyto-Mine Single Cell Analysis System

Cambridge and Farnborough, UK, 15 January 2019: Sphere Fluidics, a company commercializing single cell analysis systems underpinned by its patented picodroplet technology, and Peak Analysis and Automation (PAA), a leader in the industry for the design and manufacture of automated laboratory equipment, will collaborate to offer automated micro-plate handling capabilities for single cell analysis. PAA’s S-LAB™ plate handler will be integrated with Sphere Fluidics’ Cyto-Mine® Single Cell Analysis System to help increase throughput in antibody discovery and cell line development.

Sphere Fluidics’ Cyto-Mine is an automated platform which combines single cell screening, sorting, isolation and clone verification, alleviating the need for separate instruments. Its application programming interface (API), introduced as part of the updated Cyto-Mine Studio Software Suite in 2018, enables easy communication with PAA’s innovative S-LAB automated plate handler. The integration of micro-plate handling with the Cyto-Mine will help to reduce hands-on intervention to further streamline biopharmaceutical workflows.

Dr Frank Craig, CEO, Sphere Fluidics, commented: “Our Cyto-Mine is compatible with 96- and 384-well microtiter plates, providing a high-throughput platform for single cell analysis. By combining this with the easy-to-use automated plate handler from Peak Analysis and Automation we will be able to offer improved throughput capabilities to help reduce timelines in biotherapeutic discovery and cell-line development.”Dr Malcolm Crook, Technical Director, Peak Analysis and Automation, said: “Our small, affordable plate handler with the reliability of a robotic arm will offer users of Sphere Fluidics’ award-winning Cyto-Mine system a simple and flexible solution to further improve workflows and reduce costs associated with a more labor-intensive approach.”

Cyto-Mine will be on display in Washington, DC at SLAS 2019 from 2nd to 6th February 2019 (Booth #1655 and #1429).
For further information about Sphere Fluidics and Cyto-Mine, please visit: https://spherefluidics.com/products/integrated-systems/cyto-mine/
For further information about PAA’s lab automation systems, please visit: https://www.paa-automation.com/products/automated-platehandlers/

We are delighted to announce that Cyto-Mine® is one of the winners of The Scientist 2018 Top 10 Innovations!
Cyto-Mine® was selected as one of the winners by an independent panel of expert judges who assessed Cyto-Mine® for its ability to transform the life sciences by fostering rapid advances in scientific research and addressing key problems in the field. Cyto-Mine® is poised to revolutionize antibody discovery and cell line development as the first fully integrated system to perform high-throughput selective screening, cell isolation and provide assurance of monoclonality.
On hearing the news that the Cyto-Mine® had won our CEO, Frank F. Craig, commented: “It is fantastic that Cyto-Mine® has been internationally recognised by The Scientist as one of the Top 10 innovations of 2018, excellent news!”. Read more about The Scientist’s Top 10 Innovations in 2018.

‘Antibody-derived biologics have become a major class of modern medicine, particularly in the fight against cancer and autoimmune diseases. Crucial to the successful translation of antibodies into therapies are highly efficient antibody discovery and cell line development pipelines. The challenge for biopharma is to screen large cell populations for productivity, antigen-specificity, or other parameters, and then isolate rare cells with assured clonality.’

Read more about how Sphere Fluidics’ Cyto-Mine® is shaping ‘The Future of Antibody Discovery and Cell Line Development’ in the latest issue of GEN Magazine